Program on July 25, 2007
Mass in b minor BWV 232, J.S. Bach

Jos van Veldhoven - conductor
Dorothee Mields -soprano
Joahnnette Zomer -soprano
Matthew White -alto
Charles Daniels -tenor
Peter Harvey -bass

Program on July 26, 2007
Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
- Cantate "Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten" BMV 207a
- Concert in E gr.t. BMV 1042
- cantate "Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten!" BMV 214

Jos van Veldhoven -conductor
Netherlands Bach Society


Mass in b minor and All-Bach Program
The Netherlands Bach Society performs Bach's Mass in B minor, conducted by Jos van Veldhoven. This spectacular work, in which Bach successfully combined his abilities as a composer of vocal and instrumental music, occupies a special place within his total oeuvre. Bach's very last composition, and at the same time his largest-scale work, encompasses not only the full text of the mass, but all of the musical genres in which he worked. For this reason, the Mass in B minor is a fitting crown on Bach's entire artistic creation.

About The Netherlands Bach Society
The Netherlands Bach Society owes its existence and fame to the performances of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion which it has given since 1922 in the Grote Kerk, Naarden, the Netherlands. The present-day Netherlands Bach Society consists of a group of professional singers and instrumentalists who are specialized in the performance practice of seventeenth and eighteenth century repertoire, primarily works of Johann Sebastian Bach, his contemporaries and predecessors. The flexibility of the ensemble enables it to give performances with both large and small settings, of both religious and secular choral and orchestral music, and to perform an impressive number of works including many compositions receiving their first-ever present-day performances. This creative programming is inspiring for both musicians and public. The artistic director and chief conductor of the Netherlands Bach Society is Jos van Veldhoven. The Netherlands Bach Society has collaborated with prominent early music conductors such as Gustav Leonhardt, Paul McCreesh, Marcus Creed, and Masaaki Suzuki.

New York Times:
"The playing was lively and fresh, and the small choir floated over it with perfect clarity’ Bach Society achieves perfection"

NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands:
"The Bach Society came very close with their total transparency in the Credo and really achieved it in the Confiteor. To be able to hear everything in this music is a rare and uplifting experience of incredible beauty. We do not know if Bach ever heard this music himself. But even if he had, the quote from Gustav Leonhardt would still have applied: "Oh, if Bach had only had the Netherlands Bach Society!"

De Volkskrant, The Netherlands:
"Tremulously delicate High Mass. Well-chosen tempo changes and clever use of the oppositions between the sighing violins (crucifixus) and the exultant transverse flutes (et resurrexit) raised the performance to exalted heights."